


Ex nihilo

by EvilMuffins



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/F, Kissing, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Polyship Week, Sharing a Bed, no zombies are actually shown, only hinted at
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-12 18:09:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15345570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilMuffins/pseuds/EvilMuffins
Summary: Akechi had only rested peacefully once that he could recall, which also happened to be the exact span of time in which he had been dead.---The God of Control has won, the population transformed.





	Ex nihilo

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr polyship week, day 4- AU  
> [Prompt from here](http://polyshipprompts.tumblr.com/post/157444786986/magine-your-polyship-in-the-zombie-apocalypse)

If asked months ago, Goro Akechi would have told anyone that he was an excellent sleeper, drifting off effortlessly, like a cat curled up on a sunny windowsill.

Today, there was no one left to ask. Or least, no one left around him who didn’t already know the truth of the matter: Akechi had only rested peacefully once that he could recall, which also happened to be the exact span of time in which he had been dead.

“I’m sorry about your sketchbook,” Akira said suddenly, breaking the silence that had settled around the campfire, floating down around the group like more gray ash.

“It’s of no matter,” Yusuke looked up from the meandering designs he had been etching into the dirt, before tossing his stick into the fire, clearly poor substitute for pencil and paper. “Suzui-san’s life is of far greater importance than that of any material goods.”

Akechi stole a glance across the fire, where three girls sat huddled together, thread-bare blanket wrapped round their dozing forms. Sandwiched snugly between Makoto and Haru, Shiho Suzui snored softly, head slumped onto the shoulder of Haru’s plush sweater.

He hadn’t known the girl until sometime after everything had happened. What he did know, however, was that she slowed the group, putting them all into danger, Yusuke included, who always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time whenever the once-human shells would chase after them.

The others all seemed to like Shiho well enough, however, as evidenced by the girls’ intertwined fingers as they caught up on hard-won rest.

A familiar tug came over Akechi’s chest as he watched the three girls together, before forcing his attention back to Akira, glare from the fire obscuring his eyes behind glasses that had already been repaired more than a time or two.

“You okay over there?” he asked, pushing the frames up onto his nose so that his eyes- sharp and cat-like, only serving to deepen the tightness buried beneath Akechi’s ribs- came back into full view.

Akechi rearranged himself, sitting up straighter, suddenly aware that the weight pulling on his eyelids also seemed to be getting the better of the rest of him as the night wore on. “What makes you say that?”

“Well,” Akira said, prodding at the embers as the flames began to dwindle, “Usually we can’t get you to shut up.”

“Akira’s correct, you know,” Yusuke added. “The last time they discovered our where-abouts was because you-“

“I clean up after myself,” Akechi interrupted him. Crossing his arms, he surreptitiously brushed his elbow over the gun waiting at his side. Once holding a bullet meant for Akira Kurusu’s forehead, it now served only dispatch those already once dead.

“I managed to do away with five of the things today,” Yusuke replied smugly, as if flaunting another award for fine art, rather than having painted the pavement with blood. He saw the things as little different from the Shadows they had long ago fought.

Akechi wasn’t about to argue the fact that he had put down twice that number during the chaos from earlier, not when he was to blame for so much of the current situation. Perhaps if he had been there when the rest of the group had battled the God of Control, he could have been have of use. Instead, by the time that he had come to days later, it had been far too late. One by one, the general population had begun to transform, free will giving way to hunger.

Across from them, the girls began to stir, roused by the bickering.

Makoto yawned, stifling it with a hand, despite the cover of darkness. “You woke up Shiho,” she scolded.

“You sound just like Ann,” Haru giggled.

“I was just dreaming about her,” Shiho muttered from between them, “...about Ann. We were back in school, and she made another dumb doodle for art class… and I just miss her so much.”

Makoto leaned in, pecking her on the cheek. “We all do, but she’s safe in America. We have to believe that. ”

Haru nodded warmly, giving Shiho’s hand a squeeze.

It wasn’t long after that Akira dowsed the fire with a bucket from the near-by stream, offering to take first watch as the others took shelter in the small shack they had come across some days ago.

Wordlessly, Akechi slid in beside Yusuke, where he had built his nest of blankets for the night. Cold nights, and the commodity of body heat, had rendered verbal permission needless when it came to their arrangement. Akechi preferred it that way, the tangible sensation of a human form curled up in his arms serving to remind him that there was still life left in the world.

At times, Akira would join the two, when he wasn’t up late, poring over maps in search of viable food and shelter, all while also watching over the group. Akechi knew very well by now that ‘first watch’ usually meant ‘ _only_ watch’, if none of the others awoke during the night, finally forcing him to bed.

As usual, Yusuke managed to drift off long before Akechi had finished his hours-long inspection of the cobwebs draped across the ceiling, streamers set out for a party of insects damned to become the revelers’ feast, just barely visible in the moonlight venturing in through jagged windows.

Propping himself up onto his elbows, Akechi turned his gaze instead toward Yusuke’s slumbering face, brushing a stray lock of hair from his cheek, a troubled frown revealing itself underneath.

Eyes traveling down toward where Yusuke’s fingers clutched tightly at the blanket, Akechi caught his mind wandering back through all of the times that very hand- dancing across the paper while producing small glimpses of beauty in the midst of otherwise bleak days- had been one of the few sources of joy for the group, himself included. Although Yusuke attempted to keep up the pretense of not missing the lost book, Akechi was no stranger to what it looked like when someone was playing the hero.

Slipping out of the tangle of musty quilts and sheets,  returning the gun to its place at his side, Akechi padded out the front door, into the brisk night air.

“Hey,” Akira greeted him, still alert enough to recognise his footsteps without turning around, despite the late hour.

“I’m fine, by the way,” Akechi added belatedly, coming to stand beside where Akira sat lounging in his battered lawn chair, as if it were his couch back in Le Blanc.

“Hmm?” Akira vocalized, finally craning to meet Akechi’s eyes.

“You asked how I was doing before,” Akechi answered, placing a hand on Akira’s shoulder. “I appreciate the concern, but you should really be looking after Kitagawa instead. You know very well that he would be the type to hide it if he were to get himself bitten.”

Suddenly, Akechi's grip tightened into Akira's hoodie as a loud crack sounded from the trees. A large, dark bird had taken to the sky out of the forest. wings obscuring the moon as it passed over.

Akechi relaxed.

“Why are you still awake if everything’s so ‘fine’?” Akira pressed, raising a brow as he studied Akechi’s face as if it were no different from a tricky lock on a treasure chest. 

Allowing his lips to speak in a way needless of words, Akechi leaned in, pressing into Akira’s mouth as if the very act could right the world again.

“Just out for a walk,” Akechi breathed once they had parted, wiping his lips with the back of a gloved hand.

Akira stood, although making no move to follow as Akechi disappeared into the woods.

There had been an art store back in town, he remembered, retracing their steps, wielding his flashlight as if it were a sword. It shouldn’t have been too hard to make it there and back by morning, although it might have been easier had his leg not stung so urgently. Resting against a tree, Akechi yanked up his pant leg, examining the raw teeth-marks festering there.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Sojiro whisked Futaba away to stay with relatives somewhere safe in the countryside as soon as everything went down. The group lost track of Ryuji during an attack, but they'll find him someday, they're sure of it. Don't ask me where the other confidants are. I'm tired.
> 
> I have to cite this [FEA Henricken fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12108573) as a huge inspiration!


End file.
